On the eve of a visit to Saudi Arabia, Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov said Tuesday he would expose the real situation in Chechnya to the Saudi authorities, indicating he intended to press his hosts to rein in widespread support there for rebels fighting federal forces. Moscow has repeatedly said Saudi charities provide funding to Chechen separatists, who are seen by many in the Muslim world as Islamic freedom fighters but who Russia insists are terrorists linked to al-Qaida and other international terrorist organizations. The Kremlin also maintains that the gunmen who seized the Dubrovka theater in October 2002 made telephone calls to Saudi Arabia, and Moscow often blames militant Wahhabi adherents for leading terrorist attacks. "I intend to describe the real situation in Chechnya to members of the Saudi elite and to depict an objective picture of events ... where there is politics and where there is banditry," Kadyrov told Itar-Tass. "It will be interesting for them to know the truth about the so-called liberation movement in our country."
Kadyrov will meet with Crown Prince Abdullah and other high-ranking government officials to discuss cooperation in the spheres of health, ecology and humanitarian aid, Itar-Tass said. Meanwhile, the Chechen rebel web site Kavkaz Center on Tuesday quoted warlord Shamil Basayev as pledging to bring the war closer to the Russian people. "The people of Russia today are experiencing and will continue to experience all the delights of the war unleashed by the Kremlin regime," he said. |